Barry's Big Sale - all these cars are now for sale
New picture emerges - but where is this Mk2 Biota now?
The Aga Khan's Wood & Pickett Mini Margrave
Showing posts with label Elswick Envoy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elswick Envoy. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 February 2025
Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Endless summer of 2022
August 2022 appears to have seen more classic car shows and meetings than the two years preceding it. A collection of sunny pictures made it to here a couple of weeks ago (click) - here are yet more of them that I came across or that were sent over in the last month or so. Keep them coming.
Matt Butler's son took his Siva Buggy for a trip. Matt: "Dad, can I borrow the Bug to go camping with a friend? Hmmm. OK - but be careful and don't go too far. One week later they're at the seaside!"
Picture via Matt Butler
Matt again: "England, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, France. Now at Calais, the adventure is nearly over. Don't doubt the next generation!" Well said and well done boys!
Picture via Matt Butler
A very nice Mk1 Scamp seen on Malta. I believe it is for sale, too
Picture via Andy Turner
Many more Scamps made it to a meeting in Stourport last weekend.
This Mk2 was pushed to the limits during the event
Picture Becca Sydney
The number of cars attending the Scamp meet was impressive. Here a nice Scamp six-wheeler
Picture Roman Byk
Speaking of which... This Andersen Cub six-wheeler on Spanish plates was spotted last week in France
Picture via Thomas Laurent
And yet another Anderson Cub six! This time on Portugese plates and spotted at the
All British Field Meet in Ontario, Canada
Picture Burton Reif
Last weekend in The Netherlands - the Euregio Meeting saw Mini Marcoses, Midases and Pimlicos.
Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the event. One Midas owner drove all the way from Tallinn, Estonia!
Picture Rolf Roozeboom
The Causeway Coast Mini Show in Northern Ireland saw a variety of Mini derivatives. This is an Indespension Jiffy that was turned into a camper van. Nice!
Picture Neil Kilbane
These cars are facing the Atlantic Ocean. Here a Midas Gold convertible disguising as a Ferrari
Picture Neil Kilbane
A rarity on its own, this particularly good looking Onyx Tomcat also at the Causeway Mini Meet
Picture Neil Kilbane
The Whitby Morrison 'Batman Special' ice cream van of Andy McPhail at the
Dorset Steam Fair last weekend. Look at that shadow!
Picture Andy McPhail
If there's one person who continues to surprise me with his finds in South-Africa it's Leon Daniels.
This is his latest discovery: an Elswick Envoy in highly original condition
Picture Stuart Neil Greig
How about this for a parting shot? An RTV at the Scamp meeting in Stourport on a beautiful night
Picture Tyler Hughes
Friday, 22 March 2019
10 Derivatives at NEC show Birmingham
Don't say that Mini derivatives are still underrated cars. As a matter of fact a big display with 10 of them can be seen this weekend at the NEC in Birmingham, where the Classic Car & Restoration show takes place. Paul Wylde, who is one of the enthusiasts attending the show with his Stimson, took a series of photographs for me to enjoy. And naturally I enclose them here for you also. Say hello to Paul and his mates when you are Birmingham this weekend!
Stimson Safari Six
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
Cox GTM Cars and Car Conversions
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
Domino Premier
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
And a Domino Pimlico
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
Elswick Envoy
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
GTM Coupe
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
GTM Rossa
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
Jiffy Pick-up
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
Mk4 Mini Marcos
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
Minus Mini
Picture courtesy Paul Wylde
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Reader's cars: Chris' Townscars little and large
Chris Thomas, who runs the magazine for the Register of Unusual Microcars appears to be a fan of Mini based cars, too. He wrote to me about the soft spot he has for William Towns' creations: "I had liked the look of the Aston Martin Lagonda, but it was well out of my price range. But a Hustler perhaps not. I could understand his design logic and liked what I saw. He was my kind of car designer. Being tall I always had problems finding small cars that fitted me. I remember going to the 1974 Motor show and going onto each stand and trying the drivers seat. It was the same routine. Wait my turn, get in, run the seat right back, lower the seat if it could, and then raise the steering column if it could, and then set the seat back angle if it could. In the total show only two cars allowed me to sit in the right position, that allowed me to touch my knees together under the steering wheel, and one was the latest Hustler. By this time I had a Renault 5, which for short journeys was okay, but after a drive down to Italy I got out looking like a gorilla that had just swung in through the trees. Never again would I drive with my knees around my ears, hunched under a low roof. One day at work I spotted in the local paper a Hustler for sale. I rang, and after work dashed down to look at it. Immediately, I recognised it as being the Hustler from the motor show back in 1974. I had to have it."
"When I got it home I went over it with a keen eye discovering all those little impracticalities that do not matter on a show car, like the door locks did not work, and it was almost impossible to get into the back seats, and getting into reverse gear was difficult as the drivers seat was too wide, and so the list went on. With my rudimentary skills, learnt in school metalwork classes, I managed to make them work after a fashion. Once on the road I discovered why the last owner wished to sell it. On tight corners and roundabouts, it would suddenly learch sideways in the opposite direction to that you wanted to travel in. Very disconcerting. I soon worked out that the Hydrolastic suspension at the rear was connected across the car rather than front to back. So as the load on the off side wheels went up, so it pumped the fluid across to the near side wheels so pushing that side up further, making it feel like it was about to roll over. By reconnecting the fluid connections together on each side, it now handled very well.
I took it to several car shows, and had some fun driving there and back. Cars would slow down on the motorways for a good look, and the kids in the back would change from bored to smiling and give a big thumbs up, or a wave. I even has a Ferrari F40 owner slow down and have a good look. It is not often you turn a Ferrari owners head."
"Our local garage owner, who had MOT'd my Hustler a few times, told me there was another one like this on a farm near by, and the owner wanted to sell it. I shot down after work to see it and found it was not a Hustler but an Elswick Envoy, but not just any Elswick, it wore chassis number 1. I had to have it. Having fallen in love with all William Towns designed, to let this one go would be a sin. The story goes that a bunch of friends had bought the Elswick for a friend who was about to retire, and thought it would be fun to present him with an invalid carriage at his birthday party, and this was the only one for sale at the time. On the day of the retirement party it was driven into his back garden and given to him, to much hilarity amongst the inebriated friends. The new owner promptly tried to drive it around his garden using the hand controls, and very nearly crashed it. By this time his mood was rather tired and emotional, and he gave the car back to the so called friends and the party died. The rejected present sat for a few weeks before I heard about it."
"When the trailer arrived at my house with the Elswick onboard, I bravely reversed it off, and proceeded to manoeuvre it onto my driveway. Having never used hand controls before, I found it a major challenge. I have driven motorbikes and scooters, mopeds and automatics, but an Elswick with hand controls was one step beyond what my brain could cope with. With some pushing from neighbours we parked it, and I set about working out what would need doing to it. The main rusty item was all the rear suspension, which was a mini rear subframe with the middle removed, and a thick steel plate welded onto the bottom. All the Mini subframe part had rusted badly. So it all had to come out and a new mini subframe modified and welded to the thick steel plate, hot zinc sprayed and then immersed in a bath of Hammerite paint. All done and re-installed, next was the bodywork, grinding out the cracks and reinforcing the back, filling and sanding ready for a respray. That was until I looked at the rear door and realised water had seeped in, and the metal reinforcement inside that the window frame it was welded to, was all rusty and would all need replacing and bonding in. At that point I decided it may be better to buy a new rear door from a scraped Elswick. Could I find one? No! Since that day it has sat hand in hand with the Hustler under a big tarpaulin on my driveway."
"Over the years my confidence, eyesight, and patience with car repairs, have all waned. I became more involved with microcars and editing Rumcar News, running my own small company, and trying to loose weight. Now is the time to admit to myself that I will never drive them again, and it would be better for everybody if I sell them to somebody with the skills and passion for them. I did at one time toy with converting the Hustler into an electric car, installing the batteries between the four rear wheels, and mounting the electric motor where the Metro engine is, and adding as many PV panels to the upper part of the body as possible. Being as the panels are all flat, that should not have been too difficult. But like everything else it stayed as an idea. Now that I am in my dotage, I may need an invalid carriage one day. So should I keep the Elswick? No! I will just get my wife to drive me everywhere."
"When I got it home I went over it with a keen eye discovering all those little impracticalities that do not matter on a show car, like the door locks did not work, and it was almost impossible to get into the back seats, and getting into reverse gear was difficult as the drivers seat was too wide, and so the list went on. With my rudimentary skills, learnt in school metalwork classes, I managed to make them work after a fashion. Once on the road I discovered why the last owner wished to sell it. On tight corners and roundabouts, it would suddenly learch sideways in the opposite direction to that you wanted to travel in. Very disconcerting. I soon worked out that the Hydrolastic suspension at the rear was connected across the car rather than front to back. So as the load on the off side wheels went up, so it pumped the fluid across to the near side wheels so pushing that side up further, making it feel like it was about to roll over. By reconnecting the fluid connections together on each side, it now handled very well.
I took it to several car shows, and had some fun driving there and back. Cars would slow down on the motorways for a good look, and the kids in the back would change from bored to smiling and give a big thumbs up, or a wave. I even has a Ferrari F40 owner slow down and have a good look. It is not often you turn a Ferrari owners head."
Chris' Hustler Huntsman 6. No doubt it's a William Towns design in all its glory
Picture courtesy Chris Thomas
"When the trailer arrived at my house with the Elswick onboard, I bravely reversed it off, and proceeded to manoeuvre it onto my driveway. Having never used hand controls before, I found it a major challenge. I have driven motorbikes and scooters, mopeds and automatics, but an Elswick with hand controls was one step beyond what my brain could cope with. With some pushing from neighbours we parked it, and I set about working out what would need doing to it. The main rusty item was all the rear suspension, which was a mini rear subframe with the middle removed, and a thick steel plate welded onto the bottom. All the Mini subframe part had rusted badly. So it all had to come out and a new mini subframe modified and welded to the thick steel plate, hot zinc sprayed and then immersed in a bath of Hammerite paint. All done and re-installed, next was the bodywork, grinding out the cracks and reinforcing the back, filling and sanding ready for a respray. That was until I looked at the rear door and realised water had seeped in, and the metal reinforcement inside that the window frame it was welded to, was all rusty and would all need replacing and bonding in. At that point I decided it may be better to buy a new rear door from a scraped Elswick. Could I find one? No! Since that day it has sat hand in hand with the Hustler under a big tarpaulin on my driveway."
"Over the years my confidence, eyesight, and patience with car repairs, have all waned. I became more involved with microcars and editing Rumcar News, running my own small company, and trying to loose weight. Now is the time to admit to myself that I will never drive them again, and it would be better for everybody if I sell them to somebody with the skills and passion for them. I did at one time toy with converting the Hustler into an electric car, installing the batteries between the four rear wheels, and mounting the electric motor where the Metro engine is, and adding as many PV panels to the upper part of the body as possible. Being as the panels are all flat, that should not have been too difficult. But like everything else it stayed as an idea. Now that I am in my dotage, I may need an invalid carriage one day. So should I keep the Elswick? No! I will just get my wife to drive me everywhere."
And his Elswick Envoy, wearing chassis number 1. He may be tempted to sell...
Picture courtesy Chris Thomas
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Going Minissima
In came an update from Bruce Rolland. He has been working hard on the restoration of his newly acquired car, an American spec Elswick Envoy which he bought at the end of last year (story here). Bruce now sent a few images as the car is coming back to life. He wrote: "It's just out of paint. Look at the colors, they are the same as the Corgi 288 Minissima colors. I have been putting the little guy back together all week. It will be stunning after all is complete." That's a groovy idea indeed, and it surprises me no-one ever thought of this colour scheme before. Well done!
American spec Elswick Envoy has to be rare. It is given a full restoration treatment now
Picture courtesy Bruce Rolland
Big rear door of the Elswick Envoy makes access easy for people in a wheelchair
Picture courtesy Bruce Rolland
The car is painted in the colour scheme of the Corgi Minissima model seen here
Picture courtesy ebay
Monday, 2 December 2013
An American Elswick
Several Mini based cars originating from the UK made it to America through official channels. Some Ogles for example, and no less than 13 Unipowers according to my source. Unofficially a Foers Nomad and a Roamer even ended up in New Hampshire, or how about the the Innocenti based Mini Mare of John Stanmeyer?
But that there was an importer for the Elswick Envoy - I never knew that. And if you you'd have told me I would probably not have believed you anyway. It is true, though. Bruce Rolland from the USA managed to assure me, as he just bought one of these American spec Envoys. Imagine the trouble of putting these cars through the American environment and safety legislation! Or would there have been an exception for cars for the invalid? I'd like to know. Reader Miguel Plano had already spotted the ad some months ago and wrote: "I bet someone had the distribution rights for the USA and it never took off. This car seems to have never been registered in USA, with only 260 miles and original tires, that seems more than likely. There's an interesting story there if you can find the truth."
Whatever the story is, Bruce is now planning to restore his car. He sent over some pictures and the first thing that struck me were the big US-style bumpers. Information is scarce but Bruce knows the bumpers were an option and cost an extra 50 US dollars. He is desperately looking for more information about it now and hopes to track down an owner's manual. I haven't got one, but others may? If you can help Bruce just drop me a line and I'll pass it on to him.
But that there was an importer for the Elswick Envoy - I never knew that. And if you you'd have told me I would probably not have believed you anyway. It is true, though. Bruce Rolland from the USA managed to assure me, as he just bought one of these American spec Envoys. Imagine the trouble of putting these cars through the American environment and safety legislation! Or would there have been an exception for cars for the invalid? I'd like to know. Reader Miguel Plano had already spotted the ad some months ago and wrote: "I bet someone had the distribution rights for the USA and it never took off. This car seems to have never been registered in USA, with only 260 miles and original tires, that seems more than likely. There's an interesting story there if you can find the truth."
Whatever the story is, Bruce is now planning to restore his car. He sent over some pictures and the first thing that struck me were the big US-style bumpers. Information is scarce but Bruce knows the bumpers were an option and cost an extra 50 US dollars. He is desperately looking for more information about it now and hopes to track down an owner's manual. I haven't got one, but others may? If you can help Bruce just drop me a line and I'll pass it on to him.
Smile! Bruce Rolland in his newly acquired American spec Elswick Envoy
Picture courtesy Bruce Rolland
Big bumpers are a clue. But who can tell more about Elswick's American ventures?
Picture courtesy Bruce Rolland
This label is surely not meant for ordinary British Elswicks. How many more were there?
Picture courtesy Bruce Rolland
Friday, 7 June 2013
Please keep these cars alive!
In the last few weeks I have come across some sad advertisements. Advertisements for rare cars, or what was left of them. There was one for a Phoenix (the rare all-fibreglass estate designed by ex-Lotus man Paul Hausauer), one of an Elswick Envoy (the Mini based disabled car that was born out of a William Towns - of Aston Martin fame - concept) plus one of a mystery Moke lookalike, probably a one-off.
What all of these had in common is that I'd seen them before - these particular ones I mean. And all of them not too long ago and in a considerable better shape. I'm fearing their mechanicals were robbed to provide a far duller standard Mini with them. A bloody shame if you ask me. Please stop killing these rare Mini derivatives!
Rare Phoenix Estate looked to be in a show condition only a few years ago
But look at it now. All that's left is a shell for which so far there are no takers
Mystery Moke lookalike like it appeared in 2011. It needed work but was complete
Somebody put an awfull lot of work in it, but this is all that is left of it now
Nice Elswick Envoy. The paint had faded but it was all complete and running
Together with a sister car it was offered last week in a totally derelict state
Friday, 31 August 2012
The last days of Summer (and how to spend them)
Summer holidays are just about to end and the same goes for the Summer weather. Here at least. If it's raining it may be an idea to spend the last days of Summer in a museum. There are a few with Mini derivatives on display. I made a selection below, you just click on the museum's names to get to their websites. Let me know if you know of other cars in other museums or public collections.
Jeff Lane of the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee has a Peel Viking Minisport
Picture courtesy Lane Motor Museum
And you will also find a Midas Bronze in the same collection, focussing on small cars
Picture courtesy Lane Motor Museum
The British Motor Heritage Centre in Gaydon have had the 'Michelotti Mini' for ages
Picture Jeroen Booij
It's back to back to the 'Pininfarina Mini', also on permanent display in Gaydon
Picture Jeroen Booij
Australia cherishes the Nota Fang in the Science & Design Museum in Sydney
Picture courtesy powerhousemuseum.com
While the Southward Car Museum in Paraparaumu, New Zealand has an Elswick Envoy
Picture courtesy flickr.com
This Ogle SX1000 can be found in the Bentley Motor & Wildfowl museum in Kent, UK
Picture Jeroen Booij
The car is on loan and is modified in a typical 1970s fashion
Picture Jeroen Booij
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)